North Korea WARNED: Mike Pence tells Kim US will STAND STRONG against ‘EVIL’ regime

has been hit with a series of severe United Nations sanctions after repeatedly ignoring calls to give up its nuclear weapons arsenal.

US Vice President Pence reiterated  and his administration will continue to put pressure on Pyongyang until the rogue regime stops being a threat to world peace.

He said: “The people of the United States know who we are dealing with and we are going to continue to stand firmly and stand strong with resolve and with our allies until the regime in North Korea ceases to threaten our country and threaten our allies with nuclear and ballistic missiles.

“We will continue to hold them to account on their appealing record of abuse of human rights of their own people.”

Mr Pence recently returned from South Korea after attending the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

While at the ceremony, the Vice President notably snubbed a delegation of North Korean officials – including despot Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong – the leader dispatched as a sign of goodwill towards its neighbours in the South.

Mr Pence said he wanted to “send a message” to the “evil” regime.

He told Axios: “This is evil the likes of which we have witnessed rarely in our time around the world. And I wanted to send, with my silence, a very clear message.

“I didn’t avoid the dictator’s sister but I did ignore her. I didn’t believe it was proper for the United States of America to give any countenance to her attention.”

The resolute warning comes days after Mr Trump’s second-in-command’s raised the possibility of diplomatic talks with North Korea to resolve the crisis which has been fanning fears of  over the past few months. 

Speaking to the Washington Post aboard Air Force Two Mr Pence said Washington would keep up its “maximum pressure campaign” against Pyongyang but would be open to possible talks at the same time.

His comments suggested that President Trump, who has mostly taken a hard line over any potential engagement with North Korea, might be looking more favourably at diplomatic options.

“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearisation. 

“So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”